February 25, 2000
Dear friend, We are writing to update you on the World Bank boycott campaign. You probably learned about this campaign at a recent conference, perhaps at the WTO protests in Seattle, or through e-mail. In short, our campaign to hold the World Bank accountable through an international boycott of its bonds is taking off. Activists and local leaders are calling daily to find out what they can do. And perhaps most importantly, we are building for a full-scale launch of the campaign in April in Washington as part of the Mobilization for Global Justice. This mobilization comprises a week of teach-ins, trainings, and non-violent direct actions at the time of the Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank on April 16-17. The World Bank boycott is a way for activists to take activism about the global economy back to their own communities and organizations.
We are writing to you today to let you know what is available from the campaign, and how you can get involved. Please feel free to contact us for more information, or see our website at <http://www.cepr.net/cej> !
HOW TO GET INVOLVED 1.Get our full organizing packet!! 2.Work with an institution, university, trade union, or community group so that we can include them in the campaign launch on April 10. 3.Join efforts to mobilize people in your community to come to Washington, DC during the week of April 8- 17, 2000. 4. Keep in touch - join our listserve!
1.Get the full World Bank Boycott organizing packet! This packet contains: *letter explaining the campaign *fact sheet on the World Bank, *sign-on letters from the Global South and Northern with a list of activists in support of the campaign *ìhow toî guide which suggests steps to get a resolution passed in your community/institution, *sample resolution, *list of resources for more information on the issues. To get your organizing packet today, send e-mail to watkinsn at cepr.net, or call 505-341-1864.
2. Work with an institution and ask them to pass a boycott resolution!
We will formally and publicly announce the campaign on April 10 in Washington, DC. At this time we will release a list of the institutions that have already passed a resolution to boycott the purchase of World Bank bonds. Pick an institution be it a local government, university, church, or trade union pension fund - and work on a resolution to be ready for April. For a list of steps to do this, contact watkinsn at cepr.net, or see the website at www.cepr.net/cej.
(Of course, many institutions will take longer than April to get to sign on - and April is only the beginning of the campaign, so set your sights high, even if the institution you are targeting would not be able to pass a resolution by this time.)
3. Join in the planning for the April 2000 protests in Washington, DC!
Come to Washington, DC from April 8 17, 2000, for a week of teach-ins and organizing and action trainings, culminating in a massive protest and non-violent direct action at the headquarters of the World Bank and IMF on April 16!
On April 16, 2000, demonstrators will converge on Washington DC to challenge the undemocratic workings of the World Bank and IMF. These two secretive, unelected institutions, working with the WTO that was so discredited in Seattle, are the masterminds of corporate globalization. The global economy they have created is a race to the bottom where nations must cut spending on education and health care, bust unions, sell off precious natural resources, and undermine small businesses and farmers in order to compete. With the help of the World Bank and the IMF, corporate giants have gotten richer while most of the world's people have gotten poorer -- and hungrier. Your taxpayer dollars fund this plundering of the planet and its people. But neither you nor those impoverished by these institutions have any say in the matter. On April 16, we will demand a change. We want public control over public policy making. We want an open debate. We want these institutions to put people before profit. As citizens of the world, we will take to the streets in a non-violent Mobilization for Global Justice. Join us!
HOW DO I GET INVOLVED WITH THE MOBILIZATION FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE?
Visit http://www.a16.org for the latest information on the week of events leading up to the non-violent actions at the World Bank and IMF on April 16 and 17. At this site, you can join planning listserves, see a preliminary calendar of events for the week, and request housing and other logistical support.
Build for the mobilization in your community:
*Encourage student groups, community organizations, labor unions, and others in your area to endorse the call to protest; -The endorsement form is available at www.50years.org, or by calling 202-544-9355. Sign your organization on to the call by sending e-mail to a16endorse at yahoo.com;
*Organize a teach-in on globalization and the impacts of the IMF and World Bank; (Contact watkinsn at cepr.net or Scott Codey at 202-822-4600 for a teach-in packet and more information);
*Get involved with specific working groups preparing for various aspects of the action: media, communications, outreach, scenario, message, etc.; -See www.a16.org for more information;
*Organize a local group to come to DC! You can also contact the 50 Years is Enough Network on the web at www.50years.org, by e-mail at <wb50years at igc.org> or by phone at 202-544-9355 for more information.
*Stay in touch! Join planning listserves for the World Bank Boycott. To get regular updates about World Bank policy issues, campaign strategy, and reports from activists across the country working on this campaign, join bank-boycott-students, a listserve for students and other activists working on the campaign. To join, send blank e-mail to bank-boycott-students-s*bscribe at egroups.com ================================================================================ Neil Watkins Center for Economic Justice 1737 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 phone: (202) 265-3263, ext. 280 fax: (202) 265-3647 137 San Fidel Road NW, Albuquerque, NM 87107 phone/fax: (505) 341-1864 Web: www.preamble.org/cej
CENTER FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE 1737 21st Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 phone: (202) 265-3263, ext. 284 fax: (202) 265-3647 137 San Fidel Road NW, Albuquerque, NM 87107 phone/fax: (505) 341-1864 econjustice at preamble.org